Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Glamour:

I am almost positive that the creative skills I posses are slowly but surely (in reality they are probably developing at lightning speed) refining. I am not an artist in the sense of mastering the paintbrush, or the pencil; yet those two 'traditional' forms of artistic expression are only two of the many tools one can call-upon for use. Lately I have been having flashbacks of my childhood–art classes as a young scholar, a tight-knit family that showered me with love, abundant woodlands, rolling hills, and the most striking thunderstorms on that side of the Mississippi River.

I've just finished reading this delightful article on the topic of glamour, its mythical origins in Los Angeles, and its current state of evolution in a world that's becoming ever more connected. In doing so, the means of producing glamour have become obtainable for more than most, similar to the ways in which digital cameras revolutionized the the business of image making. Yet, at the end of the day, even though the means of producing glamour are more readily available, the techniques going-into glamour's creation are trade-secrets and acquired knowledge held by a select few, alongside with the means that make that glamour-production possible. Similarly, though digital cameras are now more obtainable for many, the technique and expertise needed for the essential understanding of the medium is still a mastery, mastered by only a select few, too–as the public and the media and the publishers all have a hand in this production, and so–only a few can truly call themselves professional. Thus, while most can, say, make images today, the quality of the images made by those without this expertise technical knowledge, will fall far below those who do possess this so distinctive of qualities. Likewise, with glamour and its cultivation.

'At the end of the day, Hollywood was ‘tinsel town’, a showy façade in which the glitter was the substance and the glamour was not backed up by education, culture or breeding.' –Stephen Gundle, Glamour: A History